>>13705148Coins, (silver or gold) reflects light, and in Germanic tradition, this was also a symbol of the ancestors. This fairy can also be seen as a kind of "guardian angel», waiting to be reborn in the child, as its spirit. Children who still had their baby teeth or had not yet undergone the rituals often did not yet have a name. They usually had nicknames, but they did not have their forefather’s / foremother's name formally or officially. One was not yet considered "adult," or "born again," spiritually, if you will. In this sense, this is also logical when we look at the pagan "baptism". This was called "kneeling" and worked so that the child was put on the father's knee so that he could confirm his paternity. In other words, kneeling was not a "baptism", in the sense that the child got its official name.
In our pre-christian societies, our ancestors were our idols. That is, those ancestors who had accumulated their honor, those who had lived an honorable life. It was these ancestors that children were renamed after and were spiritually united with.
Deyr fé,
deyja frændr,
deyr sjalfr it sama,
ek veit einn,
at aldrei deyr:
dómr um dauðan hvern
Cattle die
Kinsmen die
You’ll die the same way yourself
But I know one thing
that never dies
The fame of a dead man’s deeds
- Hávamál